Ella brought it up over coffee on a Sunday morning in late January.
We were at our favorite café in Capitol Hill, and we'd been having a nice, normal conversation about her work project and the progress on my book. We'd talked about the weather and our plans for the month. But then she set down her coffee cup with a deliberate clink and said something I wasn't expecting.
"I've been thinking about something," she said carefully. "And I want to say it with love and support, but I also want to be honest with you."
I braced myself. I knew that tone. It was the tone she used when she was about to push.
"It's been two years since you decided you wanted to try dating," she said. "Two years of me supporting your choice to be single, even though I think deep down you're making a mistake. But Brooklyn, look at what's happened to everyone else."
"What do you mean?" I asked, though I knew exactly what she was about to say.
